What are the needs of the families you work with?

[Meredith Pizzi]

What are the needs of the families you work with? What are the needs of your community? Share with the board how your families and communities might be unique.

[Elyse Suhay]

I haven’t started Sprouting Melodies groups yet, but I grew up in the town that I am going to start them in. It’s a small, rural community; just about the epitome of “Appalachian”. Most people have enough money to live comfortable, but there are definitely some who struggle to make ends meet. Several of the girls I graduated with are single moms who are having their second child, and many of them do not have a college degree (although a few are pursuing one). I think it will be beneficial for this community to understand child development better, think about their child’s behavior differently (running around is acceptable!), and to have some tools to take home that will help their child’s overall development.

[Jennifer DeBedout]

The young music groups I have run so far here in my town have provided families with a meaningful way to engage with each other in class and at home. The parents that have attended my classes seem to “eat up” the resources I provide with my classes, the suggestions I give about the use of music for development and the activities we share in our music sessions. I’ve also watched students and their families start friendships that have grown beyond the music group. One group even spawned a Moms Group that meets monthly now. Looking broader and to what I would love for my community: Burlington, Vermont is quite diverse. I mentioned in an earlier post that we have a large number of refugees that have moved here as part of resettlement programs. I also live in an area that is socio-economically diverse. While I have tried to keep the cost as low as possible for my young children music groups, I have found that we are not able to offer the group to families without financial resources. Our local schools and community groups do a wonderful job supporting refugees and their families, as well as lower income families, but I have long thought that music could be an important part of the services offered to our diverse community. I wonder if we could get grant funding or local schools could sponsor music groups for the young. In particular, an early childhood music group that was designed to bring in refugee families would help kids and their families in all the great ways we have been discussing but also help young children and their parents make connections, help celebrate and share music from their native and provide a positive and meaningful experience for families new to our area. I think providing high quality musical offerings in the diverse community here, under the guidance of a trained music therapist, would provide a great benefit to our overall community!

[Caroline Gillott]

I do not currently run any early childhood groups or anyone who would benefit from the service. I am also new to the area where I live so this is a tough question for me to answer directly. I am imagining that since I am in need of finding an early childhood music group for my child that the rest of the community must also be in search for this need. There are kindermusik and music together groups being offered but they are quite far away from my immediate area. I am hoping that my community will be open to accepting an early childhood music class and that they can see benefits for child and parent and eventually the rest of the family. I believe that the need for inclusion is high too–for those with special needs. There do not seem to be too many groups that can offer this.

[Nancy Bair]

I live in a small town in WA state, next to Portland, OR. We moved here about 3 years ago after living in Portland for several years. The schools here are fantastic, it is very active/outdoorsy and beautiful (next to Columbia Gorge), family orientated and educational supportive. It’s a small community and “everyone knows everyone” (or so it seems…). The year before we moved here, the high school needed to be expanded. After a proposal to pass a tax bond for this purpose, the local education foundation put together a few fundraisers, and the money was earned. We aren’t a high earning community either, so this is very telling to me.

Currently I am not teaching any classes either. However, I do know there is a music together family class being offered through the community center. I have a friend from our twins group that attends with her twins and she says the class is well attended. I think she, as many others in our community, really value education and want to give their kids every opportunity to grow, succeed, and learn.

I just recently started doing MT again with an autistic child and already I have had 3 referrals from other members of the community and every one of them says, “I’m so happy to find an MT!”

This gives me high hopes for a program like sprouting melodies.

[Dany Orozco]

I haven’t started a group either, but I think most families are going to benefit from interacting with their child in a way that is fun and meaningful, while helping their child reach their developmental goals.
I’m also starting a branch of my company that focuses on using MT to support deliveries and C sections, and I think this program is going to be a great way to continue with music after their baby is born. So far there’s been a good response and a lot of interest in this, so I’m excited to get things going!

[Katie Maurer]

I think my community is a pretty average midwestern city – Evansville is the third largest city in Indiana.

Like folks above have mentioned, I think parents are looking for additional opportunities for their children. I think this is probably doubly true for families with children with special needs – always looking for new methods to support their children’s development. We currently have places offering Kindermusik and Music Together, but no Sprouting Melodies that I know of.

Jennifer, the idea of grant funding for refugee groups sounds really interesting. Groups designed for their unique backgrounds and needs could have such an impact. Maybe one of the community groups or schools could help with the grant finding/writing? I can really relate to the funding issue, because I see a real need in my community for early childhood programs and resources for low-income families. And I guess it’s really bigger than just funding – such programs have to be located where these families are, at times that parents/caregivers could attend (a real variety of times would need to be offered), and flexible enough that occasional attendance would be okay.

[Kate St. John]

I think our community in Colorado Springs is pretty motivated to participate in programs that will help their children learn. We have 5 military bases here too so there are a lot of families who move in and out and military moms are usually looking for connections right away for themselves and their children. That group may be one the main groups I target for marketing Sprouting Melodies since it provides them not only with great enrichment and friendships for their children but the adults can also make friends themselves. We also have a wide range of socio-economic needs in our city ranging from low income to millionaires. I like the ideas that a few others have had in the discussion about grants and getting schools involved, etc. to help make this accessible for lower income families.

[Cassandra Mulcahy]

I serve SO many different socio-economical populations during my travels around Western CT, that it is hard to pinpoint exact needs. What I see above all is a generalized need to connect with their children, other parents, and unique social experiences.

[Sarah jane Mason]

As I mentioned before, I am just returning to work now and do not currently have clients. That being said I am researching what is happening in my community and what the needs are for marketing purposes! I am in Buffalo and this seems to be a blue collar area overall, but I am living in a suburb town that seems to be a bit higher on the socioeconomic ladder. There is a music program here that many families go to called Music with Mar. I attended the class with my 2.5 year old son and yes, we did enjoy it. Everyone was happy and singing along, both parents and the older toddlers, and the teacher was very engaging. So how do I distinguish what I want to do with Sprouting Melodies and the program in place? How do I justify the (at least) double in price that I plan to charge? Currently Music with Mar is $7 a class, drop in, and you can get a multi class pass that makes the class at $5 per class. $5 per class?!!!!! How to compete with that?

That brings me back to this question. What are the needs of the families in my community? Well, the answer is I don’t know yet. I think in order to have a successful practice here that is exactly the question I need to answer!

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